The chess column

The Russians duly took gold at the European Team Championships held in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. Leading by two match points going into the last round they ensured their success by agreeing four quick draws with Belarus and so the Israelis did likewise with Slovenia to secure silver.

The Slovenians were outrated by the Israelis but still probably regretted their decision to split the points as Georgia, led by European Individual Champion Zurab Azmaiparashvili defeated Poland 2.5-1.5 and grabbed the bronze medal on game points. Slovenia were fourth.

England were greatly outrated by Serbia and Montenegro but got a 2-2 draw and ended in a respectable 17th place with 9/18. England were without any of their strongest players apart from Jon Speelman who kindly agreed to hold the top board for a nominal fee. This he certainly did, scoring eight draws and one win. The 'derby game' between Scotland and Wales saw 3.5 points go north of the border.

Match points then game points shown. Teams scored two points for a win and one for a 2-2 draw.

Final scores

1 Russia 17 22.5

2 Israel 15 22.5

3 Georgia 13 22

4 Slovenia 13 20.5

5 Ukraine 12 23

6 Czech Republic 12 22.5

7 Spain 12 21

8 Belarus 11 21

9 Poland 11 20.5

10 France 11 20

11 Germany 11 18

17 England 9 19

30 Scotland 7 16

32 Ireland 7 15.5

37 Wales 2 7.5

37 teams.

Evgeny Agrest is a Russian GM who started a business in Sweden and then settled there and is now their top player after the retirement of Ulf Andersson. Agrest was the beneficiary of Fide champion Ruslan Ponomariov's gaffe with his mobile phone in round one but did not win another game until the last round but he ended his tournament with a nice combination.